CLEVELAND _ If there has been a signature first quarter and a signature loss for the 2017-18 Cavaliers, both came Sunday afternoon in a 117-115 loss to the Atlanta Hawks at Quicken Loans Arena.
The Cavs showed they couldn't care less about facing the previously 1-8 Hawks, winless since the opener. The Hawks had five players out with injuries. The Cavs were coming off a victory Friday night at Washington in which LeBron James tied the franchise record with 57 points.
Slow starts confounded the Cavs during a four-game losing streak and a stretch during which they went 1-5. So it was no surprise that the Hawks jumped out to a 16-point lead with 4:09 left in the opening period. The Hawks' 37 points were their most in any quarter this season and they went on to match that total in the third period.
Dwyane Wade and Kyle Korver found their motivation, and the Cavs finally decided to make a game of it with 7:17 remaining.
But complacency got the best of them in their most embarrassing defeat of the year. The Cavs (4-6) lost for the fifth time in the last seven games to the team that entered the day last in the Eastern Conference.
The Cavs cut the deficit to two points with 12.1 seconds left and Isaiah Taylor missed two free throws for the Hawks. But Channing Frye missed a 3-point attempt from the top of the key with one second left and Wade's tip-in try was futile.
James followed up his historic night with 26 points, five rebounds and 13 assists in 41 minutes.
The Cavs starters were outscored by the bench, 64-51 as Wade turned in 25 points and Kyle Korver 23 _ 19 of those in the fourth quarter.
The Cavs hit 10-of-36 (28 percent) from 3-point range against the Hawks, their opponent when they set the NBA record for 3s in a regular-season game (25 on March 3, 2017) and in a playoff game (25 on May 4, 2016). Through three quarters, the Cavs were 3-for-22 beyond the arc as the Hawks led 91-78 at that break.
Wade posted a short video on Uninterrupted while resting at home Saturday about his slow start to the season and admitted his days of scoring 20 points a game were over.
But he was still able to carry the Cavs with 11 points in the second quarter and 19 in the first half, helping cut the deficit to one point.
At age 35, Wade was the model of efficiency in the first half. He hit 5 of his first 8 shots and finished the first 24 minutes with 19 points in 15 minutes. In the first two quarters, he hit 6-of-12, 1-of-3 from 3-point range and 6-of-6 from the free-throw line.
For the Cavs' starting five, the story was not nearly as positive.
Kevin Love ripped his jersey down the front when he came out of the game after picking up his third foul in the second quarter.
Love has been out of the offensive flow in his two games at center since it was announced Tristan Thompson would miss 3-4 weeks with a left calf strain. In the first half Love went 1-for-5 from the field for four points and four rebounds. He left the game in the third quarter after feeling ill and did not return. He finished with four points and four rebounds in 19 minutes.
Derrick Rose, coming off a 20-point night against the Wizards in which he pitched in 18 in the first half, looked like the backup point guard he was signed to be. Scoring six points in the first half, Rose hit 2-of-9 from the field, 0-for-2 from long range and had no assists. He finished with 10 points, hitting 4-of-12, 0-for-3 from deep, with one assist.
At halftime the plus/minus for the first unit was ugly: James minus-13, Jae Crowder minus-19, Love minus-12, J.R. Smith minus-16 and Rose minus-23. The bench, meanwhile, had all plus numbers: Jeff Green plus-9, Wade plus-12, Kyle Korver plus-10 and Cedi Osman plus-7.
The start of the third quarter wasn't much better for the Cavs. With Dennis Schroder pouring 13 of his 28 points in the period, the Hawks opened an 80-64 lead at the 4:40 mark. Schroder scored all the points in an 11-0 run, with two and-ones, a driving layup and a 3-pointer, before Wade ended the surge with two free throws.
The Cavs were also without guard Iman Shumpert, expected to practice Monday after missing his fourth consecutive game with right knee soreness.
Missing for the Hawks were guard Malcolm Delaney (sprained right ankle), forward Ersan Ilyasova (bone bruise, left knee), center Miles Plumlee (strained right quad), forward DeAndre Bembry (fractured right wrist) and forward/center Mike Muscala (sprained left ankle).
The Hawks still had seven players in double figures.
